Sony Pictures via Everett Collection
For a second there, Better Call Saul was looking like a big excuse for a Breaking Bad reunion.
The upcoming spin-off to the smash television drama has done well to fill its ranks with already familiar faces, but we had yet to see what Better Call Saul has to offer in terms of original characters. Both Bob Odenkirk and Jonathan Banks are set to reprise their roles for the show, and even Aaron Paul has announced he was in serious talks with creator Vince Gilligan about returning for a guest appearance.
While another season of Breaking Bad wouldn’t be entirely unwelcome, we were eager to see some new faces fill out the free spaces in Saul Goodman’s skeezy legal drama. Thankfully, actor Michael McKean has just been tapped to add some new blood to the cast. The actor, famous for playing David St. Hubbins in the classic mockumentary This is Spinal Tap, and a role on the classic sitcom Laverne and Shirley, is set to co-star as Dr. Thurber, a talented lawyer who is hampered by a debilitating medical condition.
If McKean’s role gives you a faint sense of déjà vu, you’re not alone. Dr. Thurber’s story, from the scant few details we know about the character, sounds suspiciously similar to a certain meth kingpin's. Thurber is a gifted lawyer who becomes sick with a strange ailment, while Breaking Bad's Walter White is a gifted chemist who learns that he has lung cancer. Both stories are about smart men whose lives are permanently altered by disease, and in the same way that Walt’s lung cancer sparked a desperate need for recognition inside Walt, whatever affliction is affecting Thurber will likely spark similar feelings of desperation.
There’s narrative power in desperation. It’s a strong, base, human desire, and it fueled some of Breaking Bad’s best stories. You could even make the case that desperation was the most resonant theme in the entire series. Walt’s burgeoning career as a drug dealer started in a desperate attempt to provide for his family before the cancer withered him away, a feat he couldn't possibly manage with the humble earnings of a high school chemistry teacher. Even when Walt's motives changed, and creating meth stopped being a sacrificial act for his family and twisted itself something more prideful, greedy, selfish, and ugly, he was a man still driven by desperation. Walt became a man with a desperate need to be the best, to eliminate his competition, and to create the best product the world had ever seen. He not only wanted fame, but infamy. He was desperate to be somebody after an eternity of feeling like the world's most gifted doormat.
Since McKean's character will likely have similar circumstances surrounding his character, we hope that Vince Gilligan is able to mine the same amounts of depth from this new character of his. November can't come soon enough.
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Drafthouse Films via Everett Collection
There are a lot of ideas floating around in Cheap Thrills. They're interesting, they're dense, and they're fruitful endeavors for the world of psychological horror. But they are relegated to floating, never quite anchoring into any real conclusions or statements about their desperate, depraved subjects.
We meet Craig (Pat Healy), a happily married father of one, on a particularly bad day: he loses his job, is slapped with an eviction notice, and — to top it all off — bumps into a pesky old chum (Ethan Embry) from his younger days. A fellow who Craig, a loser in his own right, judges for never having gone anywhere. As the high school buddies catch up, they are roped into the increasingly violent and grotesque high jinks of a pair of thrill-seeking strangers (David Koechner, giving an impressively haunting performance, and a nearly wordless Sara Paxton) with the promise of bright financial futures dangled in front of them. The men, each of thinning pride, gradually give way to monetary temptation as they play along in these treacherous mind games, the biggest mystery being if a limit to their desperation exists.
Drafthouse Films via Everett Collection
Although it's an intriguing venture, the sociological study stops at its thesis question. In truth, the movie's philosophical makeup can be summed up with the Klondike Bar slogan. Still, there is meat to be found: the bubbling lava underneath the crust of Craig and Vince's (Embry) long dormant friendship comes with a few humanistic ditties about breaking free from your past, and the pangs inherent in facing off with someone who knows the you that you've been trying to escape. But these ideas, too, aren't milked to their full potential. The only element of the film that does hit its promised summit: the grossness.
Cheap Thrills does deliver, and then some, on the ick factor. It's not an abundance of gore or violence that does it, but the visceral, intimate nature with which the gore is handled. Everything is up close and personal, all pains really felt. If this is your bag, then Cheap Thrills will come through here. But psychologically, it does little more than present would-be interesting ideas. Fun in the set-up, occasionally thrilling in the delivery, but never particularly fulfilling in the conclusion.
2.5/5
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AMC
It was this very same night that I was harping on one of Breaking Bad's only shortcomings: its theme song. Reflecting in the brief, dark ditty after hearing it played at the Emmys ceremony, I thought about how flimsy it sounded in comparison to the booming, personable harmonies of its dramatic brethren: ominously upbeat contemporaries attached to Mad Men and our dear departed Dexter, the gigantic opus that is the opening number from The Sopranos. The semi-song that introduces every episode of Vince Gilligan's masterpiece has always done little to invigorate, in my musically uneducated opinion. But in the very final moments — chilling, counterintuitively satisfying moments — the series' penultimate episode gave its theme a new purpose: next week, and in every Breaking Bad rewatch, I will approach this melody with a new reverence. It is the song that marked Walt's (probably regrettable but oh-so-enlivening) return to action.
What's most impressive about "Granite State" is that it makes this return feel like a long time coming; it's as though we've spent episodes upon episodes holed up in that New Hampshire cabin with Walt, dwelling on remorse, prying lifelessly at deliberations on how to get his barrel of cash to Skyler, Walter Jr., and Holly, and waiting to die. It helps that we've had precedent for the Northeastern purgatory in the Season 5 premiere, but the masterful conduct of this latest episode — which sees Walt reach his secret destination by way of Saul's guy (Robert Forster in a performance that is both wonderfully earthy yet enigmatic), determined upon arrival to transfer his funds but immediately struck by the limitations put upon him by, among other elements, the law, his location, and his physical health — has us enduring these months of internal decay with just a handful of scenes.
And then, finally, a second wind. After hitting rock bottom in his loneliness and desperation (he actually pays Forster's character $10,000 just to spend another hour with him — this from someone who has never been a particularly big "people person"), Walt trudges to town with a small box of cash to send to the family, heading into a dimly lit tavern and phoning Walt Jr.'s — excuse me, Flynn's — school and directing his son to pick up the package, which he will address to his friend Louis. (There was something particularly off-putting about the line "He's a good kid. He's like you.") But Walt is beaten nearly to death by Jr.'s assertions that he doesn't want Walt's dirty money, that he blames Walt for the death of Hank and that Walt should just "die already." Harsh words that rattle the man so ferociously as to prompt him to call in his location to the Albuquerque police. But before the local law enforcement arrive, Walt treats himself to one last drink at the bar... catching, in a fortune of timing that only the best of dramatic television can pull off without feeling hokey, a broadcast of old pals Elliott and Gretchen Schwartz denigrating his newly publicized life of crime and diminishing his contributions to Grey Matter to little more than just "the name."
AMC
And then, finally (well, it's only been a few minutes, but still), a third wind. See, the only thing more prominent than Walt's love for his son: his obsession with his image. Ever since he watched his father succumb to disease, Walt has been a man obsessed with leaving memories of strength and power. There is no way that he will fade from this Earth a failure. And so, as the theme song reverberates with a new life force, we see Walt disappear from his bar stool, ready to gain back the kingship he once knew and has always craved.
Meanwhile, our hearts break for everything this king has ever touched:
1. Skyler suffers at the strangling hands of the law (even with Walt's absolving phone call, she's still a target for the legal system until she can give up some info on her husband) and comes face to face with a home invading Todd, who threatens her and baby Holly. Somehow, her word that she's not going to spill the beans on him or Lydia is good enough for the same psychopath who murdered an innocent child. What's his angle there?
2. Jesse somehow loses even more than he has already lost. Tortured in the nazis' pit after they discover the revealing tape he recorded with Hank and Gomey (oh Gomey... we miss you), Jesse manages a brief flee for the fences, only to be caught, bound, and made to watch his beloved Andrea shot dead as a punishment (and a warning, as Brock is kept alive to tempt Jesse to continue his servitude for Todd and company). Seeing Jesse slip even further down toward the inescapable black hole of despair and self-loathing is so damn agonizing that it's a wonder this show has any returning viewers. But the dark, bleak turn does offer new hope for the big-hearted fool. Now, the show has a reason to keep him alive. Someone (Brock) needs him. There is a palpable victory in store for young Jesse: he can get out of this mess forever, perhaps raising, or otherwise caring for, young Brock. At the very least, we hope he can die in a successful plight to free Brock from this menacing world. Give him some kind of win, Vince. Something. We need the strength to go on, here!
All this torture adds up to a frightfully strong second-to-last episode, meaning more excitement than we can bear for the finale. As always, we wonder: how the hell are they going to wrap everything up? And as always, we trust: perfectly.
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Actress Olivia Wilde reached out to pal Jennifer Aniston for advice on how to handle the media after a joke about her sex life with fiance Jason Sudeikis turned her into a tabloid target. The TRON: Legacy beauty hit the headlines last year (12) after quipping that she and her boyfriend were like Kenyan marathon runners in the bedroom.
The intense media scrutiny prompted Wilde to turn to her close friend - Sudeikis' We're The Millers co-star - for help, because Aniston had "been through the wringer" following her high-profile romances with Brad Pitt, Vince Vaughn and John Mayer.
Wilde felt sure Aniston would be able to offer her the best advice on fame management and tells Allure magazine, "I explained the situation, and I said I needed advice on how to deal with these things.
"She wrote me one of the most gracious, wise emails describing her journey and really wonderful words of advice about how to deal with it. And, in the end, I think I would do it all again exactly the same way."

Frank Ockenfels/AMC
It's a sign of humane writing that, as the final leg of Breaking Bad boils down to arrests, gun fights, and plans of ultimate undoing, Vince Gilligan is still interested in sparking some new romances: Todd and Lydia. We open this week on the post-Heisenberg Era meth lab, finding a team of neo Nazis (who, say what you will about their ideologies, sure know how to land a pop culture reference) failing to satisfy a didactic Lydia Rodarte-Quayle with a 76% product that isn't even blue.
It's the blue that the kids in Bratislava really go nuts for.
After apologizing to Lydia for a subpar cook and promising to do better next time — honest he will! — Todd flashes her a look imbued with the sincere intensity that you can only garner from a Grade A stalker, caressing the lipstick stain on her tea mug once she's gone. We might add that some Diana Rossy-sounding romantic pop was playing over whatever sound system is hooked up in a meth lab all the while.
So what the hell is up with this paritcuarly jarring way to start the fourth-to-last episode of Breaking Bad? Is the show foreshadowing a frenzy in which Todd avenges Lydia against his gun-toting relatives, or Walt himself? Is Gilligan just trying to set up a new power couple? Since Walt and Skyler have dissolved to subhuman, Jesse and Andrea are split, and Hank and Marie are… well, we can pretty much predict nothing but gloom for them after this episode… Loddia might be the new subject for those fanatical shippers.
Or maybe we're just meant to be reminded that Todd is simply a weird dude. The glare of jealousy that he musters when Walt refers to Jesse as "family" signals some corrosive pain… even though the mention comes when Walt is ordering a hit on the kid! Todd, the dutiful student and teller of train stories, just wants everybody to love him. So, that's probably going to erupt into some serious crazy pretty soon.
Jesse's plan kicks into gear pretty flawlessly, tempting Walt to lead him to the site of the buried money by tricking him into thinking he has already found it — with a manipulated Huell (and man do I love when this show introduces its longstanding characters' surnames for the first time — is it Babineaux?) giving them a few hints about what Mr. White did with all the cash — and tracking his phone on his ride, not to mention getting a few handy confessions while on the line. The only thing Jesse and accomplices Hank and Gomez didn't count on was Walt's last minute decision to call for backup. Which, really, they kind of should have counted on that… it's what turned Jesse away from last week's ploy. But tensions are high and mistakes are bound to be made. On both sides.
Walt does wrangle the neo Nazis to do his bidding, but only before realizing the team with whom Jesse is saddled. What is most interesting to me about this season is how much humanity we are seeing in Walt. His brother-in-law has turned against him altogether, but Walt still wants to see no harm come to Hank. Even if it means a way out for himself… is this the cancer rewiring him with some empathy? His absence from the game turning him back into some semblance of a human being? Or did Walt always have limits — was his love for his family, the reason he got into this mess in the first place, always going to be prioritized above everything? It's difficult to say, since Walt has acted so selfishly that we might never have predicted to spare anyone, even his wife and children, from his menace. He regularly terrorized Skyler, manipulated Hank, f**ked with his son's head… but as far as their lives are concerned, he does indeed seem to still hold a great deal value there.
At the site of the buried money, Hank arrests Walt, who has attempted to call off the dogs. But they show up — quite promptly, I might add (say what you will about their ideologies, but they sure know how to hit a deadline) — raining blows upon the lot. Hank and Gomez fire back at the troupe while Walt, handcuffed in Hank's truck, tries desperately to institute a ceasefire. Jesse, in Gomey's car, seems intent on making a run for it, but we never see an end to anyone's hopes come to fruition: the episode cuts out mid blitzkrieg with no casualties amounted thus far.
But things are looking grim for Hank and Gomez. After all, just moments before the whole ordeal, Hank dialed Marie to offer up a classic '80s cop movie "We got him. I'll be home real soon. I love you" message, not to mention the fact that a boatload of gun-toting sociopaths coming up dry in taking down two caught-off-guard lawmen — one with a limp — would be pretty unacceptable stuff. Odd to end the episode without finality, but we think that next week will pick up post-mortem for the Albuquerque officers.
As for Walt and Jesse, things seem less certain. Does the latter get away? Is Walt now indebted to Todd's uncle and his men? Are they the folk for whom he picks up that monstrous machine gun in New Hampshire? Are tensions past the point of us ever seeing Skinny Pete again? Heaven forbid.
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The trailers for Hope Springs might lead you to believe it's a romantic comedy about a couple trying to jumpstart their sexless marriage but it causes more empathetic cringing than chuckles. Audiences will be drawn to Hope Springs by its stars Meryl Streep Tommy Lee Jones and Steve Carell and Streep's track record of pleasing summer movies like Julie &amp; Julia and Mamma Mia! that offer a respite from the blockbusters flooding theaters. Despite what its marketing might have you believe Hope Springs isn't a rom-com. The film is a disarming mixture of deeply intimate confessions by a married couple in the sanctuary of a therapist's office awkwardly honest attempts by that couple to physically reconnect and incredibly sappy scenes underscored by intrusive music. Boldly addressing female desire especially in older women it's hard not to give the movie extra credit for what writer Vanessa Taylor's script is trying to convey and its rarity in mainstream film. The ebb and flow of intimacy and desire in a long-term relationship is what drives Hope Springs and while there are plenty contrived moments and unresolved issues it is frankly surprising and surprisingly frank. It's a summer release from a major studio with high caliber stars aimed squarely at the generally underserved 50+ audience addressing the even more taboo topic of that audience's sex life.
Streep plays Kay a suburban wife who's deeply unsatisfied emotionally and sexually by her marriage to Arnold. Arnold who is played by Tommy Lee Jones as his craggiest sleeps in a separate bedroom now that their kids have left the nest; he's like a stone cold robot emotionally and physically and Kay tiptoes around trying to make him happy even as he ignores her every gesture. One of the most striking scenes in the movie is at the very beginning when Kay primps and fusses over her modest sleepwear in the hopes of seducing her husband. Streep makes it obvious that this isn't an easy thing for Kay; it takes all her guts to try and wordlessly suggest sex to her husband and when she's shot down it hurts to watch. This isn't a one time disconnect between their libidos; this is an ongoing problem that leaves Kay feeling insecure and undesirable.
After a foray into the self-help section of her bookstore Kay finds a therapist who holds week-long intensive couples' therapy sessions in Good Hope Springs ME and in a seemingly unprecedented moment of decisiveness she books a trip for the couple. Arnold of course is having none of it but he eventually comes along for the ride. That doesn't mean he's up for answering any of Dr. Feld's questions though. To be fair Dr. Feld (Carell) is asking the couple deeply intimate questions so if Arnold is comfortable foisting his amorous wife off with the excuse he had pork for lunch it's not so far-fetched to believe he'd be angry when Feld asks him about his fantasy life or masturbation habits.
Although Arnold gets a pass on some of his issues Kay is forthright about why and how she's dissatisfied. When Dr. Feld asks her if she masturbates she says she doesn't because it makes her too sad. Kay offers similar revelations; she's willing to bare it all to revive her marriage while Arnold thinks the fact that they're married at all means they must be happy. Carell's Dr. Feld is soothing and kind (even a bit bland) but it's always a pleasure to see him play it straight.
It's subversive for a mega-watt star to play a character that talks about how sexually unsatisfied she is and how unsexy she feels with the man she loves most in the world. The added taboo of Kay and Arnold's age adds that much more to the conversation. Kay and Arnold's attempts at intimacy are emotionally raw and hard to watch. Even when things get funny they're mostly awkward funny not ha-ha funny.
The rest of the movie is a little uneven wrapped up tightly and happily by the end. Their time spent soul-searching alone is a little cheesy especially when Kay ends up in a local bar where she gets a little dizzy on white wine while dishing about her problems to the bartender (Elisabeth Shue). Somewhere along the line what probably started out as a character study ended up as a wobbly drama that pushes some boundaries but eventually lets everyone off the emotional hook in favor of a smoothed-over happy ending. Still its disarming moments and performances almost balance it out. Although its target audience might be dismayed to find it's not as light-hearted as it would seem Hope Springs offers up the opportunity for discussion about sexuality and aging at a time when books and films like 50 Shades of Grey and Magic Mike are perking up similar conversations. In the end that's a good thing.

He may not have had many lines, but he sure made one explosive impression on fans. In light of his recent Emmy nomination for Guest Actor in a Drama Series, Hollywood.com talked with Mark Margolis about his pivotal role of Tio Salamanca on AMC's Breaking Bad. The actor opens up about preparing for the challenging part, his new movie with Darren Aronofsky, and how he thinks it'll all end for Walter White.
(SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains information pertaining to the Season 4 finale.)
Hollywood.com: Congrats on the Emmy nomination! What was your first reaction when you heard the news?
Mark Margolis: That's what everyone asks me — I don't know what to say! My first reaction was that I could care less. Then I thought, maybe I can get five million dollars from the Koch brothers if I say I'm not taking a nomination from the liberal Hollywood establishment. Then I thought, that's not a good idea. But they haven't made an offer anyway. [laughs]
I was kind of surprised. They had put me up a couple years running for episodes and nothing ever came of it. Though, I wasn't absolutely surprised, because two years ago, nine out of 10 people didn't know what Breaking Bad was, and after the third or fourth season, it started getting an incredible following. I thought there was a shot also because my character is an unusual creature, where except for a few flashbacks, I don't really speak, and that's different. Everything's done through ringing a bell and the way I react facially.
Speaking of that, how did you go about preparing for the physical side of your performance?
I've been around people from time to time who have had strokes and can't move; I see people even in my own neighborhood in wheelchairs. I had a period of time for about eight years when [my wife and I] went down to visit my mother-in-law in a nursing home in Florida. She had had a stroke and was on feeding tubes and couldn't talk. It was a horrible scene. But sometimes when we would come in, she used to get excited, because her brain was somewhat still working, and she could never talk, but there were these movements out of the left side of her mouth that I stole from her. I said to somebody, "It's sort of an homage to Shirley, my mother-in-law." I take things from what I see in the world.
From the neck down my character doesn't move much, except for the finger that does the bell. So from that point of view, I just had to relax into a position that I could stay in for a while. And then that thing at the side of the mouth gave me something to do, rather than just sit there with a blank expression. And it's a wonderful thing, because especially when I got worked up, the left side lips would come out in a weird way, kind of moving almost in a simian quality. I owe it all to Shirley, who never cared for me anyhow. [laughs]
It's the most unusual thing I've ever played, I think. I'm going to Iceland to work on a Darren Aronofsky film where I'm going to be playing something even more unusual. It's a film with Russell Crowe about Noah's ark, and I'm playing kind of a god made out of stone, which should exceed even Tio [in strangeness].
You've worked with Aronofsky extensively in the past.
It's because he owes me. He lost a bet. [laughs] I started with him when he was unknown in Pi. He likes me; I think I'm the only one that worked in all of his films. Though I don't exist in Black Swan. I worked in it but the scene is gone.
I saw an interview you did a few years back with AMC and you talked about really enjoying making Aaron Paul sweat a bit in an interrogation scene in Season 3.
Yeah, all of those things I enjoy. To take a jump, the last episode with Giancarlo Esposito, I loved sucking him in. You know, he wanted me to be contrite about what I did to his lover or friend at the swimming pool and I kind of took on an expression of like, "I'm really sorry" — I'm practically in tears. Acting is doing, it gives you something to do. But it was wonderful, it's fun to do stuff like that. That's part of the wonderful thing about acting. The writer gives you license to do things you might not even do in your life in a million years.
When did it become clear to you that you were going to play such a big role in the Season 4 finale?
Well, Vince [Gilligan] called me up about a month and a half before, very apologetic about the fact that I was going to die. Which I knew was coming. In fact, I had given him a suggestion about a month before, in case he wanted to kill me off. So I think I saw the script a week before we did it, they sent it to me. But Vince mitigates it by promising, "Don't worry, we bring you back! We bring you back in a dream." And he says they are going to bring me back for next season. It'll probably be in a dream sequence or a flashback, but I'm all for that.
I was surprised at how they did it, the whole bomb thing was a real surprise to me. I thought perhaps I was going to be murdered by Giancarlo's character, which is what he was about to do until I did him. And also, with Bryan coming to me saying, "I know you hate me, but there's somebody you hate more," I loved it, all that. That was a wonderful episode. Actually, what I enjoyed most was messing with the minds of the DEA by spelling [the insult]. Sometimes the character is wonderful because I get to do wonderful things, even though I'm limited.
But actually, what I'd really like is a scene with Anna Gunn. That's my fantasy. She is adorable and Walt doesn't treat her right. We could have a father/daughter relationship. Oddly, she grew up in Santa Fe, and we had a nice conversation [about it] a couple of years ago. I was part of a big theater company in Santa Fe and it turns out that's what turned her on to acting, seeing that production.
As we near the end of Breaking Bad, what do you think or hope happens with Walt at the end?
I'm an actor, I'm not going to watch the show if I'm not in it... I'm kidding you! I really don't know, because we're dealing with an Einstein of television writing, Vince Gilligan. I mean, he could have Jesus come down and bring Walt to his senses. Vince is a very weird man. Did you see last week's episode where it opened in Germany? That was mind-blowing! I saw something on the Internet and I thought he was kidding, that they're going to be speaking German and not Spanish. I thought it was a joke. I have no idea what will happen. Walt may end up on a tropical island living the high life. It's impossible, because we're dealing with the oddest man. He's so un-Hollywood and yet his mind is brilliant. So, I have no idea. I don't have the vaguest idea. I'm sure it will be mind-blowing, whatever it is.
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[Photo Credit: WENN.com and AMC]
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If someone asked, "Who's Doug Jones?", you would probably scratch your head and say, "I know that I know that name, but from where?" It is a common name, one that probably belongs to hundreds of butchers, plumbers, accountants and insurance agents across the country, but those aren't the Doug Jones' you're looking for.
The Doug Jones that everyone should know of is an actor scarcely seen in his natural form, but who's worked on countless films you've loved for years. Batman Returns, Hocus Pocus, Mystery Men, Men in Black II, Adaptation, Hellboy - the list can go on and on. The reason you may not recognize him is because he specializes in portraying alternative characters usually covered in make-up, prosthetics and practical effects; characters that your Brad Pitts and Tom Cruises would never think about taking on, but are always memorable nontheless.
Since this year's crop of Oscar nominated films include those that feature a great deal of make-up or technological supplements (Rise of the Planet of the Apes, The Iron Lady, Albert Nobbs and Harry Potter, just to name a few), I thought that this incredibly unique performer might offer an interesting perspective on how actors like Andy Serkis, Meryl Streep and Jean Dujardin used the creativity of make-up teams and special effects departments to get inside the skin of their characters.
Read on for a full transcript of my interview with Jones, in which he also discusses his character in and the tone of the upcoming supernatural comedy Neighborhood Watch as well as the status of the long-gestating Silver Surfer film.
You’ve been working in a very visual effects-heavy world for a long time, be it any kind of visual effects. What was the most awe-inspiring visual effects moment that you saw on the big screen in the past year?
I did see Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and I was blown away once again by the visual effects behind these ape characters. With Andy Serkis at the heart and soul of that main ape…he had the same effect on me in King Kong, and as Gollum in Lord of the Rings. I was actually watching an acting performance, not a drawing. I don’t want to put quotes in Andy Serkis’ mouth, but I could have sworn I heard him say before that to him, an acting performance is all the same. Whether they’re putting makeup on him before the performance or after. In those circumstances, much like his performance in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, his makeup was applied afterwards. It was digital.
And would you agree with that statement?
Wholeheartedly. You have to find the heart and soul of the character, and how that character relates to the other characters in the film. You still have to do all of your "actor shmactor" work to create a character like that, from the actor’s point of view. Whatever the look of that character is…take Meryl Streep, for instance. She has an Oscar nomination for her performance as Margaret Thatcher this year (in The Iron Lady). Fantastic performance. She went through hours of makeup to make her an old age—most of the movie was [told in] flashbacks to her younger days, but those later-life shots, with her being an old woman - she absolutely channeled the old Margaret Thatcher. So, she had to affect a physical performance that would be in the age of the woman. You have to find Margaret Thatcher’s tics or quirks that make her Maggie. We did all this through makeup, and she affected her voice, she had a set of teeth in, everything. I saw no difference between that—where someone is wearing prosthetic makeup—and playing a creature from another world. With the same kind of dialogue, and great interaction with other characters, and physical affectation, and all that.
Another example would be the Oscar-nominated performance of Jean Dujardin from The Artist. He gave a silent performance, with all this great, amazing visual emotion. He had such a character arc, and he did all of his "actor shmactor" work to give a silent performance. Andy Serkis did the exact same thing, and gave a silent, non-dialogue performance. Jean had the makeup applied ahead of time to make him look like a silent movie star, and Andy had his makeup applied digitally afterwards to make him look like an ape. I honestly see no difference in those two things. It’s really incredible when you think about it that way. Given the Academy, and how set in stone their rules are, it’s a shame that somebody like Andy in this performance—where there is so much emotion coming through, and so many quirks and tics and characteristics that he animates in this character—could never be considered, in this day and age, for a Best Supporting Actor award. It’s a shame, I think. What is your opinion on how the Academy makes their choices? I am not a member of the Academy myself. In the makeup world, I have worked with a lot of Oscar nominees and winners—as in, makeup artists and that kind of thing. But as an observer of the Oscars over the years, it would appear that the movies that are more human and reality based tend to get more nominations. The more fantastical and otherworldly films tend to wow us, but don’t get Oscar nominations. It seems like that. And the makeup nominations…one that slipped through the cracks was my makeup team for Pan’s Labyrinth back in 2007. My faun character and the Pale Man character were as otherworldly and fantastical as you’re going to get. And they actually were nominated and did win the makeup award that year. But most years, there are a lot of makeup jobs that are done in films that are fantastical and otherworldly that take five hours of application or longer and they do not get nominated at all. But then, you’ve got the makeup job for Frida, for instance. Salma Hayek played that. There was an eyebrow involved, or a nose enhancement. Charlize Theron, who played Monster. That makeup job was also nominated for an Oscar. And they were great. They did affect a great look on these people. But it was much simpler. The Academy seems to like a well-known movie star who has been altered or enhanced slightly. That is what they love to nominate. As opposed to creating a character almost from scratch, basically. Exactly. Another case in point would be this year: the makeup members of the Academy have what they call a "bakeoff." Seven films get to this bakeoff where they have to present all the makeup Academy members. And a movie I was in, Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life, which is a French film, they made me up to be Serge Gainsbourg’s alter ego in that. A cartoony, fantastical, exaggerated version of Serge Gainsbourg. This very iconic French singer/songwriter from the ‘60s and ‘70s. And that was another five-hour makeup application that involved prosthetics—and electronics, even, from the top of my head. And it was no different from what they did for me on Pan’s Labyrinth. And it was the same makeup team. DDT Efectos Especiales from Spain. But again, after the bakeoff was done this time, just because the film wasn’t well-known, and it was French, it didn’t have as much broad appeal worldwide. It ended up not making it into the final three nominees for makeup that year. No reason to be bitter over it at all. They make their decisions based on whatever they make them on. But it does make you tilt your head sometimes and curiously wonder. The amount of work that goes into one performance or one movie, and the amount that goes into another—one gets nominated and one doesn’t. It proves that it’s subjective. Absolutely. There are probably a lot of factors that are a little bit more on the nose. Look at Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, which swept everything that year, including makeup. All three of those movies were nominated for pretty much all of the technical awards, I think. The makeup team that worked on Fellowship of the Ring and Two Towers, they’re the same guys that did very similar work in Return of the King. But for some reason, I think it’s more of a moment that you get caught up in, which is why they decided to give it to them at the end. Even though they had been doing that work for five years beforehand. I agree. The emotional swell will get a nomination everytime. Absolutely. And I don’t want to get too much into it, but I’m sure there are plenty of Hollywood politics that go into it as well. Oh, sure. But circling back, can you talk about having seen Andy’s role as Caesar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes. You’ve worked through prosthetics before, you’ve worked through makeup before. You’ve seen yourself digitally enhanced on screen. Can you talk about what the challenge is of physically defining a character in a mo-cap role, and how an actor works around potential production problems that arise when working with directors and cinematographers and different departments? The best place for me to start would be with a comparison. When I’m wearing a creature suit and a costume, that is a practical application on my body that gets filmed, as opposed to what it would be like to wear a leotard with dots on it. The difference between those two for me would be after going through that four-or five-hour makeup application, you look at yourself in the mirror and say, “Oh my gosh. I am this beast right now.” That kind of actually helps your whole acting process, when you can look in the mirror and go, “Good gosh, now I get it.” "Now you’re scary." [Laughs] Right, exactly. And all of those actor notes you were preparing for this, his intentions, his fears, his wants, all that is now a very visual thing as well. It does help enhance your performance. In motion capture, you have to have a great imagination to figure out what that’s going to look like later. And I’m sure they’d have an artist’s rendering of what you’re going to be looking like ahead of time, too. Here’s the design. And here’s what posture to affect to assume that character. But your imagination has to be a little bit more acute, I think, in the mo-cap performance type of work. [But] when you’re wearing a costume or suit, things come with it inhibit your performance as well. Vision problems, hearing problems, weight that inhibits the lifting of an arm. Or stilts on your feet that inhibit your balance, your walk. Vision impairment also inhibits your balance. Bumping into other people or props. So, that’s what comes with the practical makeup or costume suit. The movie I just worked on, and finished a few weeks ago, was Neighborhood Watch with Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill. Oh yeah!? I was going to ask about that. It was great fun. It comes out July 27. It's going to have very Ghostbusters humor, with a practical alien in it—and that would be me. That’s a combo platter, the way the Silver Surfer was. You’ve got me in a full costume—it took a whole team of people to put together. I was in stilts, I was seven feet tall. I had extensions that were very wavy and heavy and claw-like, and a mechanical face on. Very intricate, very costly, very time consuming. But we also wanted movement to come out of this character that was otherworldly and did not look like a guy in a suit. I’m a skinny guy in a heavy costume, so there’s only so much you can do that goes beyond ‘guy in a suit.’ So, the visual effects team is going to be enhancing, and embellishing, and making it look more fantastical. Had we started with performance capture, the freedom that buys you is that you don’t have the weight of all this latex, foam rubber and mechanics. Arm extensions, leg extensions, vision impairment. You have your full faculties about you with dots on you that are tracked into a computer system. And then, all of that, by look, is put on later. So you can assume those crazy poses and walks and lunges without fifty pounds on your back. So there are advantages and disadvantages to both. When the combo platter can come together, that’s the world we’re living in now. For a long time, there was a worry that computers were going to take over the world. In reality, I always knew that wasn't the case. In America we love our stars. We love our celebrities. We’re always going to want to see Leonardo DiCaprio on the big screen as Leonardo DiCaprio. Right. But in the beginning, those fears were there. Especially now that I travel the fan convention circuit, when I’m between movies, I love doing those sci-fi fantasy comic book horror conventions. What do you think the future of cinema will look like, given the rise of the motion capture performance? In Avatar, per say, you’ve got motion capture performance in a completely 3D digital environment. I think that’s the next step of cinematic evolution that some people might have feared. "Maybe they don’t need actors anymore. They’re not even shooting on location anymore. They’re in a studio with sets that don’t even really exist." I just wonder what your take on a phenomenon like that is. Honestly, at first glance, there might be a fear of, ‘Oh no, is this going to take over?’ But I think that all genres of film need to be represented—and that would include the 3D, computer enhanced, computer generated, performance captured—there’s absolutely a place for that, and there’s absolutely an audience for that. There will always be an audience for the British frock drama, with a bunch of ladies in dresses and tailcoats, sipping tea and having great dialogue. That does not need 3D, that does not need any kind of motion capture. Absolutely. There’s always an audience for every genre of film. So, I think that we’re not going to lose anything. We’re only gaining things. We mentioned the Silver Surfer. In my opinion, and in the opinion of many, you and your character were the absolute standouts of that second Fantastic Four film. I would love to know if there has been any talk, or if you heard anything about the rumors of a Silver Surfer spinoff film. Would you like to return to that role? Is it anywhere near reality? It was near reality. Back when we were making the Fantastic Four sequel, Rise of the Silver Surfer, I did have a three picture deal in place that would cover two more films. To keep the Silver Surfer alive for more spinoffs. So that was the reality, and there was a script written by J. Michael Straczynski, a few years ago. He’s brilliant. That’s the last I’ve heard of any of that. Now they’re talking about rebooting Fantastic Four with a whole new cast. Where does that leave the Silver Surfer? No idea. I’m shrugging my shoulders without a clue. Do I want to return to the character? Absolutely. Are there things I want to explore? Absolutely. His origins in the comic books were so, so poetic and Christ-like. The sacrifice he made to give up his freedoms. To sacrifice his lifestyle to save his planet and the woman that he loves. It’s a great storyline to go back and delve into. And to explore the tragedy of this heroic character. He seems like a bad guy when you first meet him, but he really is the most stoic, heroic character I’ve ever played, for sure. To try to channel that all-powerful energy he has, but with the consonance and the posture that he had. That was a challenge for me. Because I’m very expressive, very arm flappingy and very facial expressiony when I talk. So, trying to rest in that quiet strength was the biggest challenge for me. I would love to explore that again, because I had never felt so handsome. That was the sexiest part of that movie, hands down. Take pride in that. Have you heard anything about your good friend Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim, which we’re heavily anticipating? I live by the mindset that Guillermo should always find a spot in his films for either you or Ron Perlman. I wanted to bounce around the suggestion of whether or not he might have found a spot for you in that picture? I would say, not for me. All I can report is what I’ve seen publicly. He has not talked to me privately about Pacific Rim at all. He talked about giant aliens being fought off by giant robots. He always said, if a character is too big or too small, he’ll defer to CG. I have not been called in for any kind of work on that film. Ron Perlman does have a character in the film. So, half of it is true. Maybe next time around. I know that you are also attached to a Frankenstein reimagining with him. I don’t know if anything is happening with that. I would love to see you take on an iconic character like that. The Frankenstein notion is the one that I’m most excited about. As far as I know, it’s still in development at Universal. Last I heard, he did not have a full, completed script for that. He put in a treatment and a synopsis to Universal to get story ideas plotted out with them. That was last summer. So it’s still very much alive actually? Yeah. He’s been talking about it. The first time I heard about it was the summer of 2008. It’s one of those years-long projects. He’s not going to rush it because it’s his childhood dream to make this story. And he’s got his hands full with about a thousand other projects, I bet. A thousand other projects, exactly. There was news recently about him taking on a Beauty and the Beast movie. And there’s been rumors flying about Ron Perlman and me in that, which are unfounded and untalked about as well. So I have no response to those at all. No one has talked to me directly about that.

S2E12: Based on the previews for tonight's episode of Hawaii Five-0 -- what with its promise of Chin's oceanfront wedding and all -- you might think the show was going to take it a little easy on us. Not so!
The episode kicks off with a few young kids doing dumb, young-kid things -- in this case trespassing onto and into an old bunker, at the bottom of which they find what appears to be a dead body.
Enter Five-0 ...
McGarrett and Max rappel down the "lava tube," where the seemingly deceased man lies, murder weapon nearby. As they examine the apparent corpse and the license, which bears no resemblance to the man they're looking at, he springs back to life (only to soon be induced into a coma)! But what follows is an even weirder chain of events.
First the Five-0 go looking for the man whose wallet was found nearby, Rafe Tong. He has a rap sheet that makes him the immediate and obvious suspect, but as is usually the case early on in the episodes, he's more of a petty criminal, not a murderer. He does, however, offer the name of the victim: Dennis Archer.
Before long, it seems as though Archer might not have been a victim but rather that he was involved in some sordid trip to Hawaii; his wife, in Arizona, had no idea he was there, his savings account was suddenly drained, and he was looking for a girl.
Oddly enough, the girl Archer was looking for, Bridgett Turner, is the very same girl that Vince Fryer -- HPD detective and Five-0 rival -- is looking for; she's his Jane Doe. He and McGarrett literally bump into each other during the investigation, meeting in the middle, so to speak and decide to work together and let bygones be bygones.
BUT: Bridgett herself is dead, left in the trunk of a car tied to one Dennis Archer. Which further complicates potential motives and such.
Meanwhile, at the hospital, Archer's wife explains that their son, Sean, has been presumed dead for over two years but that Dennis held out hope that Sean was somehow still alive and that Dennis might've been in Hawaii pursuing a potential lead on that front. The cops further put the pieces together when they mentally replay footage of Dennis handing over a suitcase full of money (his aforementioned savings account) to Bridgett, leading them to believe that perhaps she'd promised him some info on their son's whereabouts.
They also know that "shady stuff" is going on at the luau where Bridgett worked as a waitress. Before long they're able to figure out definitively that Bridgett's boss, Mitch, was running a scam whereby he attempted to con Dennis Archer out of a lot of money in exchange for details about his long-missing son; Bridgett was, for all intents and purposes, a middleman.
The whole operation fell apart when Bridgett grew a guilty conscience and Dennis Archer went after Mitch for lying to him -- forcing Mitch (at least in his mind) to kill Bridgett, make it look Dennis' doing, and then kill Dennis, too. Most of which didn't work out too well for him.
When Five-0 apprehend Mitch for the murder, they get some more info from the sadistic lifelong criminal: He knows that Sean Archer is, in fact, dead, as bragged about by Mitch's onetime cellmate in Arizona. It doesn't take much (see No. 4, below!) for Vince to coax the gruesome details about the murder out of Mitch, and it gives the Archers (Dennis survives the terrible ordeal) a small sense of closure, at long last.
TOP FIVE MOMENTS FROM TONIGHT'S EPISODE
1. McGarrett opens the doors to Danny’s room at the Hilton – where he’s staying temporarily – to find his partner handcuffed (but fully clothed) to Lori. They walk away in embarrassment, although bound to one another. “It’s not what it looks like!”
2. When the Five-0 goes to investigate the scene in the bunker, where it is predictably dark, dank and altogether spooky, the always-ready-to-provide-comic-relief Max pops out in a costume that, although ultimately practical, resembles that of a superhero.
3. The inevitable chase scene, in which Kono blindsides Mitch, who’s running away from Chin and McGarrett, and scissor-kicks him to the ground. And gets a “Yeah, Kono” from McGarrett.
4. This line from Fryer to Mitch (although it doesn’t even do justice to the performance and delivery of recurring guest star Tom Sizemore): “He’s no snitch. He’s an honorable guy. I understand. But, ya know, the question you gotta ask yourself is: How are you gonna spend this life sentence? OK, because if you don’t cooperate with me right now, right here, I will call the warden and I will have him enroll your ass in the ‘Psycho of the Week’ program … Every week, you get to sample the prison’s finest psychopaths, gangbangers, sociopaths. And you can do for the rest of your life, until you leave there in a box.”
5. The wedding scene. The rare happy ending! That is, until Joe and Steve have a not-so-friendly chat to close out the show.

How quickly holidays come and go.
Even before the lights completely dim on our moldy jack-o-lanterns, it's Christmas time. This weekend marks the opening of 2011's first holiday movie: A Very Harold &amp; Kumar 3D Christmas. It may not be the most straightforward, obvious way of rejoicing the wintery celebration, but heck, for a niche group of people—a group I'll classify as the perpetually-baked medical students of the world—it'll be there cup of egg nog.
And that's the real magic of Christmas movies. Every individual has the perfect film to represent them. So, for all the people you know who can't stomach another year of squeaky clean It's a Wonderful Life or the memorable moment bombardment of A Christmas Story, here are a few skewed holiday suggestions:
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
A Christmas Movie for the Overzealous House-Decorating Father
Distracting a devoted Dad from adorning his home with bright lights and animatronic Santas can be a difficult task—even for a 90-minute movie. But, like all addicts, the easiest way to get him to pay attention is to feed his carnal desire for ornament. At the least, two seconds of Clark Griswold's own quest for holiday glory should spur the guy into a competitive fury and make Christmas Vacation his go-to movie of the season (even if it's more of a glove slap across the face than an enjoyable cinematic experience).
The Polar Express
A Christmas Movie for the Shy Kid Who Sits Quietly in the Corner, Staring Blankly at People from Across the Room
Maybe they're baffled over the fervor children muster over chocolate, Santa and toys, or maybe they're just so doped up on Ritalin they don't even realize it's a holiday, but there's always one kid at a Christmas party who stands apart from the group. For them, director Robert Zemeckis crafted a special Christmas movie: The Polar Express. The film teaches young people that soulless children can enjoy the holidays, even if they look and act like real life versions of The Sims.
Bad Santa
A Christmas Movie for the Sex-Driven Boozehound Who Always Spikes the Hot Chocolate
This year, instead of chastising that one person in your life who continually reeks of bourbon, consider enjoying their company with a viewing of Bad Santa. You'll think the Billy Bob Thorton movie is a hilarious, twisted take on a Christmas fable, while your tipsy acquaintance will have a have a self-reflexive epiphany that will cause them to rethink their whole life. Everyone wins. A Christmas miracle.
The Nightmare Before Christmas
A Christmas Movie for the Disgruntled Teen Who Couldn't Care Less About Christmas Movies
If you know someone who refuses to indulge in bold red and green Christmas sweaters because the knitted wear doesn't properly represent "the darkness that haunts their soul," it's best not to try and strong-arm them into enjoying the holiday. Instead, offer up up a movie that plays to both crowds. Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas isn't quite a Christmas movie, isn't quite a Halloween movie, but is highly recognizable to anyone who's walked into a Hot Topic.
The Holiday
A Christmas Movie for the Hopelessly Single Person Who Needs a Distraction from Fruit Cake
No one should be alone during the holidays, even the person who has spent the last decade being alone on the holidays. But thanks to the white-people-problems screenwriting knack of Nancy Meyers (Something's Gotta Give, It's Complicated), there is hope. The Holiday was scientifically designed to make any person weep with tears of joy at the prospect of holiday-infused romance. For viewing, sweatpants aren't an option, they're required.
Black Christmas
A Christmas Movie for the Heavy-Breather with a Knife Obsession
Remember: You would sleep with a crossbow too if you thought they were coming to get you.
If weaponry tickles his or her fancy, the 1974 slasher/Christmas flick Black Christmas is the perfect avenue to rope that person in to the holiday hoopla. Just remind them that picking off co-eds one by one at a Christmas party isn't very fun for the co-eds.
Fred Claus
A Christmas Movie for the Too-Cool-for-School Bro Who Thinks Everything's "Money"
"If Vince Vaughn doesn't think Christmas is cool, it can't be possibly be cool," says the guy who has never seen Fred Claus. Little does he realize the lessons everyone's favorite swinger learns over the course of this magical holiday movie. After twelves months of inflating his head with pick-up lines and hair grease, the Vaughn-driven Santa movie should help bring him back down to Earth. At least until New Year's.
Jack Frost
A Christmas Movie for Evangelical Reincarnationists
Christmas may be steeped in religious imagery, but that doesn't mean it has to box out any particular ideology. That's why they invented movies!
Bring the people who won't accept death as man's final moment into the festivities with the Michael Keaton classic Jack Frost. If a subpar father can return to this planet by inhabiting a snowman, truly, anything is possible.
Jingle All the Way
A Christmas Movie for People Who Laugh Whenever Arnold Schwarzenegger Falls Down
Hey, whatever floats your boat.
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